PANOLA COUNTY, Miss. — Recovery is underway across Panola County, after an EF-1 tornado touched down earlier this week.
As trees dangle and debris stretches across the Mount Olivet community, residents were in disbelief. One homeowner said it looked like a bomb went off, destroying homes and other property and forcing many to start over.
“It’s going to be years to get this back right,” David Smith said.
For the last 12 years, Smith has called this area home. Now the only thing left to show for it is a few standing walls, a hole in the roof and lots of damage.
“It looks like I got frame damage and the house, I don’t know if it’s go be salvageable or not, so it’s devastating,” he said.
This is one of the many neighborhoods across Panola County hit by an EF-1 tornado. Preliminary information from the National Weather Service suggests the twister was in the ground for nearly 20 minutes.
“This was kind of like an earthquake, this particular storm, it was a no-notice event,” said Daniel Cole, director of Emergency Operations for Panola County.
Cole said 40 to 80 homes were damaged. This is first tornado the area has experienced since 2006, he said.
“Every storm, we learn something different about ourselves about our training about our equipment and we just take that and we just build on it, whether it’s our storm or we’re helping somebody else,” Cole said.
With recovery underway, Smith got a surprise at his doorstep when the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief showed up to assist.
“(It) puts your faith back into humanity,” Smith said of the volunteers. “There’s good people out there.”
Among the volunteers was Jimmy Thornhill, who said he considers it a privilege to assist folks when they need it most.
“I’m just thrilled to step in do anything to help them, because in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, a homeowner, your kind of going all different directions not knowing which way to go,” Thornhill said.
While Mother Nature may have damaged several properties, a spirit of resilience remains.
“We’ll just have to endure, just keep on going,” Smith said.
Need help?
Assistance is being offered through the Red Cross and other agencies. If you need temporary rental assistance you’re being asked to call 1800-455-6362.